This invention is in the field of inflatable toys and promotional and point of sale displays, and particularly inflatable articles such as helmets which are likely to be put on a person's head.
An objective of this invention is to provide an inexpensive inflatable article which represents and simulates a real football helmet and yet is safe from the event of a user putting the helmet on his head and somehow covering his nose and or mouth.
One prior art publication and disclosure of an article that typifies the problem addressed in this application is U.S. Pat. No. Des. 318,747 to Barker and Barker's companion U.S. Pat. Des. No. 338,546. Here an inflatable helmet and face mask is provided comprised of outer and inner shells formed together with an inflatable airspace between the shell layers. This article simulates a real helmet and can be put onto a person's head. If tipped excessively forward or put on backward, a portion of the inner shell could cover the person's nose and mouth and cause suffocation.
In addition to being dangerous as described above these Barker articles appear to require many component parts and complicated assembly which would lead to costly manufacture. Toy or promotional articles like these have a very low sale price, and thus they must be manufacturable in high volume and low cost or there can be no successful commercialization.
Another prior art publication is U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,107 to Lorenzo which is an inflatable helmet intended to be worn by a motorcyclist. This disclosure also typifies the two above-described disadvantages of the prior art and fails to consider or provide the objectives of the present invention, namely to provide a helmet that is safe and inexpensive but very realistic in appearance.
A third prior art disclosure is a typical National Football League football helmet which is constructed of a rigid outer shell, a cushioned interior and an open bottom to receive the user's head.